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We are constantly reminded, all around Metro Vancouver, that, in our quest to transform ourselves into a first-class city renowned for gorgeous scenery and a multicultural imprimatur that is the envy of the world, we often lose sight of our physical roots.

In our rush to densify and modernize, we tear down our history, ripping century-old homes and historic buildings from the dirt as if they were bad teeth, as if they are disposable impediments, erasing any notion that Metro Vancouver has a structural pedigree worth preserving. Another 1910 west-side arts and crafts beauty bites the dust; a rare 1899 West End mansion, The Legg House, is headed to the landfill to save a tulip tree.

Bloggers lament the loss of viable century-old housing stock, Facebook is ablaze with indignation, columnists write about the relentless destruction of vintage structures to make way for condos and malls, and frustrated but dedicated heritage organizations continue to fight the good fight.

And, always, the question hangs in the air: What can be done to stop the physical eradication of our region’s history?

Ask local heritage preservationists and they will tell you one way is to educate, to extol the virtues of heritage, to remind us that the greenest house is a house that is already built, and that to erase the past is a foolish undertaking for a young city looking to the future.

This is the 35th year that the New Westminster Heritage Preservation Society has been working to remind us that vintage has value. Its annual heritage-home tour has seen thousands of enthusiasts tour hundreds of preserved and rehabbed homes during the years, refocusing both residents and politicians on the merits of celebrating and maintaining the city’s 156-year-old history.

Karen Fry and Leigh Merchant’s New Westminster home is on this year’s May 25 tour, and while it isn’t as old as many in the community, where most of the 1,000 or so homes on the heritage inventory were built in the early 1900s, its 1940 charm is found in its classic bungalow style.

When the couple bought the place in 2012, a top-to-bottom, down-to-the-studs renovation was in order and that included raising the house to create a usable basement, and completely redoing all the mechanicals. New windows were installed and the small kitchen at the back was blown out to create a stunning, sleek kitchen with a soaring ceiling and double French doors leading to a new back deck.

Merchant is a house designer who has worked on many a heritage renovation, and his touches are everywhere: a barrel vault ceiling in his upstairs office, exquisite teak lower kitchen cabinets, with glass all around, turning the deceptively roomy house into an open, light-filled thoroughly modern oldie.

Merchant and Fry, who is a doctor, held true to the home’s history, and to their environmental sensibilities, recycling much of the wood they took out, including beautiful fir from the basement floor that was used in the second-floor master bedroom. The basement wine cellar is built entirely of wood recycled from the reno.

Why go to so much trouble, when others might simply tear down the house and start from scratch? “It would cost a lot more,” says Merchant, “and the bones were there.”

The couple sees the value of the tour, and in opening their vintage home to strangers so others can appreciate why it was worth saving, and how old homes can become new again.

The New Westminster tour (details at newwestheritage.org) includes eight private homes, one of them a meticulously restored Queen Anne cottage, as well as several local landmarks, including Queens Avenue United Church, Galbraith House, Irving House, the Masonic Hall and Massey Theatre.

The latter two are wistful participants — the Classical Revival-style 1911 Masonic Hall is slated for redevelopment and the 65-year-old Massey Theatre, located on the grounds of a high school, is set for demolition next year.

In Vancouver, where demolition permits are issued every year by the hundreds, the Vancouver Heritage Foundation fights back with a year-long roster of tours and seminars designed to inform and educate the populace on the merits of older homes, and why it’s important to save them.

To some degree, it’s working: the once-reviled but utterly family-friendly Vancouver Special has the kind of vintage 1960s housing stock worth preserving.

This year’s self-guided house tour on June 1 (check vancouverheritagefoundation.org for details) is the organization’s 12th, and features 11 historic homes, among them three “storybook” castle-style houses with timbering, round windows and whimsical curved rooflines.

If you’ve ever wanted to check out Casa Mia, the controversial 1932 Spanish Colonial mansion on Southwest Marine Drive, it’s also on the tour and open for ticket holders to explore its opulent interior.

Also on tap is a 1906 B.C. Mills kit house, constructed of wood milled from local forests — one of many pre-fabricated, mail-order homes of the day that shared similar features such as flooring, doors and panelling.

The home, built for Edward Odlum (his brother Victor founded the Odlum Brown investment firm), had a 1920s renovation that built an addition on the rear of the house.

Inside, much of the original wallpaper was removed, including the wallpaper on the ceilings, a popular decor choice for the era. But many of the original features, and thus much of the home’s vintage charm, is intact, including the mouldings, banister and vintage bathtub.

Given that kit homes were the choice of the middle class — they were affordable and easy to build — many firms, including Sears, offered them through catalogues. They were shipped, windows, hardware and all, and assembled on site.

Today, more than a century later, many kit homes, and the thousands of still-standing, turn-of-the-20th-century heritage homes throughout Metro Vancouver, have stood the test of time — and taste — a testimony to the quality of the architecture, materials and craftsmanship of the time.

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